Living with Interstitial Lung Disease

What is Interstitial Lung Disease

Living with Interstitial Lung Disease can be quite difficult. Not only is it progressively harder to breathe, you also become fatigued easily which makes it hard to complete basic tasks. People suffering from lung disease say it takes them nearly an hour to take a shower. Cleaning and walking to the mailbox also take a very long amount of time, and for some people, are impossible tasks to accomplish. During the winter months, living with lung disease becomes increasing more cumbersome. The dry air caused by household heating and the cold outside air both cause people with lung disease to experience heightened symptom flare-ups. However, there are a few simple exercises that can help decrease these flare-ups and the conjoining difficulties they cause.

Interstitial Lung Disease Basics

Interstitial lung disease is an umbrella term used to categorize over 100 different types of pulmonary disorders that affect absorption of oxygen into the lungs. It includes a diverse collection of illnesses with a variety of causes, treatments and prognoses. Individuals who suffer from interstitial lung disease often have difficulty breathing and moving from place to place due to a consistent feeling of shortness of breath. Disorders classified under interstitial lung disease are often characterized by scarring of the lung’s delicate tissues, and a subsequent dry, pestering cough.

There are a variety of causes of interstitial lung disease that range in diversity.

However, interstitial lung disease may also develop without a known cause, and in that case it is known as idiopathic. The most common form of idiopathic interstitial lung disease is pulmonary fibrosis. As interstitial lung disease is a progressive disorder, identifying a known cause for the disease is especially important. Due to the fact that interstitial lung disease can be caused by environmental factors, removing these triggers may slow the progression of the disease and damage to the lungs. If the disease is idiopathic, stem cell treatment for lung disease, and other forms of regenerative medicine have been found beneficial.

Lung Exercises

Although your body’s ability to fix itself is a marvel, it needs some help in promoting lung health. There are multiple outlets to get help promoting healing in your lungs. However, the easiest form of action is diet and exercise. For example, a study published in Thorax showed that men who eat apples have better lung health than those who do not. In this regard, seeking the help of a dietitian and fitness trainer can be very helpful, but make sure to speak about any planned rehabilitation with you physician first.

Here are some exercises to help your lungs:

Walking and biking – Exercises that will stimulate heart health will help the lungs utilize oxygen more efficiently, which means less shortness of breath and deeper breathing. Try speed walking and riding a bike for extended periods of time.

Swimming – You use nearly every muscle in your body when you swim. Use caution, swimming can seem harmless, but it can be strenuous. It’s important that people with lung damage ease into swimming.

Yoga – Another activity that uses most of your body’s muscles, yoga can stimulate your lungs through focused breathing. Yoga also helps workout your diaphragm, the muscle that operates the lungs.

Breathing exercises – There is a long list of breathing exercises you can perform to help improve lung capacity. Try breathing in deeply, and filing the lung cavity. When you exhale, purse your lips and breathe slowly. Then, try holding your breath for a few seconds before inhaling again. Repeat this exercise to see if you can increase the time you hold your breathe.

The importance of exercise for a healthy individual is obvious, but when you have a progressive lung disease, it is imperative that you exercise your lungs often. It is equally important that you seek a treatment that fits your lifestyle and provides you with the results that you seek. If you or a loved own suffers from a progressive lung disease like COPD or pulmonary fibrosis, the Lung Institute may be able to help. The lung Institute uses your own body to help promote healing and get your life back within reach. Contact us today for a free consultation or call us at (800) 729-3065>.

* All treatments performed at Lung Institute utilize autologous stem cells, meaning those derived from a patient's own body. No fetal or embryonic stem cells are utilized in Lung Institute's procedures. Lung Institute aims to improve patients' quality of life and help them breathe easier through the use of autologous stem cell therapy. To learn more about how stem cells work for lung disease, click here.

All claims made regarding the efficacy of Lung Institute's treatments as they pertain to pulmonary conditions are based solely on anecdotal support collected by Lung Institute. Individual conditions, treatment and outcomes may vary and are not necessarily indicative of future results. Testimonial participation is voluntary. Lung Institute does not pay for or script patient testimonials.

Under current FDA guidelines and regulations 1271.10 and 1271.15, the Lung Institute complies with all necessary requirements for operation. The Lung Institute is firmly in accordance with the conditions set by the FDA for exemption status and conducts itself in full accordance with current guidelines. Any individual who accesses Lung Institute's website for information is encouraged to speak with his or her primary physician for treatment suggestions and conclusive evidence. All information on this site should be used for educational and informational use only.

As required by Texas state law, the Lung Institute Dallas Clinic has received Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval from MaGil IRB, now Chesapeake IRB, which is fully accredited by the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Program (AAHRPP), for research protocols and stem cell procedures. The Lung Institute has implemented these IRB approved standards at all of its clinics nationwide. Approval indicates that we follow rigorous standards for ethics, quality, and protections for human research.

Privacy & Security Practices

The Lung Institute takes patient privacy seriously. The law requires that our healthcare facilities and medical personnel protect the privacy of your medical record and other health information We are also required to notify you of our privacy practices with regard to your Protected Health Information. This Privacy & Security Notice explains how your medical information is protected under HIPAA and HITECH laws and how your information may be used, disclosed, and accessed.

Internet Privacy Disclosure

The Information We Collect: The Lung Institute collects information by various methods including information actively provided by its lead providers, customers and information arising from customer surveys and general feedback.
The types of personal information we collect include name, contact information, identification information, credit information and other data types as appropriate. Contact information may be added to database for customer outreach and contact. Credit card information is used for billing purposes only. We may record calls to or from our patient care coordinators/customer service representatives for purposes of accuracy, performance reviews, training and general quality assurance.

How We Use This Information: This information is used to aid in the provision of our various products and services, including customer service, accounting, billing, collections and the marketing of other products services.
The Lung Institute may use aggregate or anonymous information for various uses for itself and third parties.

Who We Share This Information With: The Lung Institute does not share personal information with any third parties except as disclosed in this policy. The Lung Institute may provide personal information to the Lung Institute’s subcontractors and professional advisers (which shall be bound by privacy obligations) to assist the Lung Institute’s uses disclosed herein.

Security: Personal information is stored in a combination of paper and electronic files. They are protected by security measures appropriate to the nature of the information.

Accessing Information: Individuals may review their personal information contained in the Lung Institute’s files by contacting the Lung Institute’s privacy officer. If an individual believes that any of their personal information is inaccurate, we will make appropriate corrections.

Cookies: Cookies are used by the Lung Institute for the convenience of our users. Cookies automatically authenticate the user. A user can access the Lung Institute’s website with the cookie feature turned off. However, in doing so they may find themselves challenged for username and password information on multiple occasions. The Lung Institute also uses cookies to track user’s visits and uses that information to improve the user’s experience.

This cookie does not in any way identify you or give us access to your computer. In addition to using cookies as described above, we also may permit certain third party companies like Google Analytics to help us tailor advertising that we think may be of interest to users and to collect and use other data about user activities on our Sites and/or Services (e.g., to allow them to tailor ads on third party services). These companies may deliver ads that might also place cookies and otherwise track user behavior. You may choose to opt out of cookies by clicking here.

Links: The Lung Institute’s website may contain links to information at other websites. When you click on one of these links, you are moving to another website. We encourage you to read the privacy statements of these linked sites as their privacy policy may differ from ours.

Social Media: Lung Institute has multiple social media pages including: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube and Pinterest. Lung Institute social media pages are managed by Lung Institute staff members who post news and other items of interest to be consumed by the public. If you have a social media account, you can log in to your account to post comments, and 'like' or ‘follow’ Lung Institute social media pages and individual entries. If once you click on a lung Institute social media page, you comment or click on the 'like' button, your Protected Identifiable Information (PII) will be visible to Lung Institute staff and other social media site visitors. The amount of visible personal information displayed will depend on your own Social Media privacy settings. You can completely avoid displaying any PII by not creating a Social Media account, not posting comments, not clicking on the 'like' or ‘follow’ options, or interacting with Lung Institute Social Media accounts in any way (i.e., private messaging, sharing Lung Institute posts, etc.). Lung Institute staff does not collect, use or disclose any information about visitors who comment, 'like' or ‘follow’ the Lung Institute Social Media sites. However, as a practice, comment moderator policy requires the removal from Lung Institute Social Media pages of any comments that contain spam or are improper, inflammatory, or offensive. The information is then saved on a password-protected shared drive accessible to Lung Institute Managers, System Owners, Communications Staff, Web Teams, and other designated staff who require this information to perform their duties.

General: The Lung Institute may amend this policy from time to time. If such amendments affect how the Lung Institute uses or discloses personal information already held by the Lung Institute in a material way, the Lung Institute will obtain consent.
Notwithstanding the general terms of this policy, the collection, use, and disclosure of personal information may be made outside of the terms herein to the extent provided for in any applicable privacy or other legislation in effect from time to time.
The Lung Institute may disclose personal information to another entity purchasing (including for diligence purposes prior to purchase) the assets of the Lung Institute, provided that entity abides by this or a similar privacy policy.